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The proletariat (from Latin , "offspring")
is a term used to identify a lower social
class; a member of such a class is proletarian. Originally it
was identified as those people who had no wealth other than their sons; the
term was initially used in a derogatory sense, until Karl Marx used
it as a sociological term to refer to the working
class.

The Proletariat in Marxist theory

In Marxist theory, the
proletariat is that class of society which does not have ownership
of the means
of production. Proletarians are wage-workers, while some refer
to those who receive salaries as the salariat. For Marx, however,
wage labor may involve getting a salary rather than a wage per se.

Marxism sees the proletariat and bourgeoisie (merchant class)
as occupying conflicting positions, since (for example) factory
workers automatically wish wages to be as high as possible, while
owners and their proxies wish for wages (costs) to be as low as
possible.

In Marxist theory, the proletariat may also
include (1) some elements of the petite
bourgeoisie, if they rely primarily but not exclusively on
self-employment at an income no different from an ordinary wage or
below it, and (2) the lumpenproletariat,
who are not in legal employment. Intermediate positions are
possible, where some wage-labor for an employer combines with
self-employment. Socialist
political parties have often struggled over the question of whether
they should seek to organize and represent the entire proletariat,
or just the wage-earning working class.

According to Marxism, capitalism is a system based
on the exploitation
of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie (the
"capitalists", who own and control the means of production). This
exploitation takes place as follows: the workers, who own no means
of production of their own, must seek jobs in order to live. They
get hired by a capitalist and work for him, producing some sort of
goods or services. These goods or services then become the property
of the capitalist, who sells them and gets a certain amount of
money in exchange. One part of the wealth produced is used to pay
the workers' wages, while the other part (surplus
value) is split between the capitalist's private takings
(profit), and the money used to pay rent, buy supplies and renew
the forces of production. Thus the capitalist can earn money
(profit) from the work of his employees without actually doing any
work, or in excess of his own work. Marxists argue that new wealth
is created through work; therefore, if someone gains wealth that he
did not work for, then someone else works and does not receive the
full wealth created by his work. In other words, that "someone
else" is exploited. Thus, Marxists argue that capitalists make a
profit by exploiting workers.

Marx himself argued that it was the goal of the
proletariat itself to displace the capitalist system with socialism, changing the social
relationships underpinning the class system and then developing
into a communist
society in which: "..the free development of each is the condition
for the free development of all" (Communist
Manifesto).

Arnold J.
Toynbee uses the term "internal" and "external proletariat" in
his monumental "A
Study of History" to describe the groups within and external to
the frontiers of the state, who during the time of troubles, the
World Empire and the decay of a civilization, are
progressively disenfranchised, and come
to have little loyalty to the survival of that civilization.

Marx makes a clear distinction of proletariat as
salaried workers, which he sees a progressive class, with Lumpenproletariat,
"rag-proletariat", the poorest and outcasts of the society, such as
beggars, tricksters, entertainers, buskers, criminals and
prostitutes, which he considers a retrograde class. According to
Lenin, the Lumpenproletariat belongs in the "reactionary classes"
and is to be destroyed during the
dictatorship of proletariat.